Joe and Joy Romeo peer from their front door after being allowed to spend the night back in their home following Hurricane Sandy. / Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

by Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

by Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - Luxury on the peninsula portion of this Jersey Shore city devastated by Hurricane Sandy is defined in simple terms for the handful of residents who ventured back to live in their homes for the first time in 10 weeks Monday night.

For Candace and Don Popaca, who are the only homeowners to move back to their house in the Normandy Beach section of town, it means having neighbors return so their houses will light up an otherwise dark street.

For Joy and Joe Romeo, it means having cable, so the college Bowl Championship final game can be on as background noise while they unpacked boxes of their belongings.

And for Bryan Boyle and his girlfriend, Maria Fox, it means a 30-pack of Coors Light to entertain them and their friends as they fix up his family's house in the Ocean Beach section.

This area was among those hardest hit by the October storm that blasted the East Coast, killing more than 100 people and causing an estimated $65 billion in damage.

Less than 30 households returned to stay Monday night after the city opened the peninsula to residents who had electricity, gas and water. Homeowners had been allowed to return home during the day for the last two months, but had to leave by sundown.

Residents will return home gradually, says Police Chief Mike Mastronardy. He says about 7,000 of the 7,400 homes in this part of town were damaged or destroyed, making a speedy return difficult.

He drove the darkened streets Monday night, checking in on residents. The city has a pedestrian curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m.

"I'm surprised more people didn't come back," he says as he drove through one dark section where most of the homeowners live year-round.

The Popacas couldn't wait to get back home. "We are giddy," says Don, 65, a retired manufacturer whose company made bathroom sinks.

He and his wife, Candace, 64, a retired teacher, had been living with their daughter and her sister since the storm in October. Their five-bedroom house stands 7 feet high and was not damaged, save for the garage. The couple have lived in Normandy Beach since they got married 40 years ago, most of it in four different houses on Fourth Street, where their home is located now.

"There was no question we were coming," Candace Popaca says. Now, they're waiting for more friends and neighbors to slowly trickle back, so the dark streets that surround their house will show light once more. "When you leave, it is going to be very quiet here," Don Popaca says to a reporter.

In the Ocean Beach section, where houses collapsed or were washed away from their foundations and where sand still covers streets, Boyle, 21, was fixing his family's summer house. He's torn out the dry wall and insulation and replaced it in the ranch style home. He's living in the house full-time and working construction, repairing other homes, on the peninsula.

Boyle and his girlfriend, Fox, 21, are the only people staying for several blocks. The rest of the neighborhood is dark. Around them stands the devastation wrought by Sandy.

The house of one neighbor whose home was washed off its foundation lies on its side. Other houses are empty, stripped down to the studs after they were flooded.

Boyle, sporting a Restore the Shore sweatshirt, was on the phone with the cable company on Monday night. He says once he gets cable, he's set.

"There aren't many of us, but I'm amped," he says. "It's my home."

Joy Romeo, 70, and her husband, Joe, 72, want to get life back to normal as quickly as possible. That's why they decided to move back home, even though they are the only ones back on their street.

"You look up and down the street and there's nobody here," Joe Romeo says. "It's desolate."

The couple's home, perched on a foundation nearly 10 feet high, was not flooded. But they had to move to a senior community while waiting for authorities to allow residents to move back in.

The Romeos spent the evening unpacking boxes. They already have cable, phone and Internet. Joe Romeo remembers the first time they came back to their block about two weeks after the storm. Houses all around them had been flooded and the sodden, ruined possessions of all of their neighbors were piled high on the sidewalk.

"Everybody had everything on the street," Joe Romeo says, stopping and his tears welling at the memory. Joy says returning home is a good first step â?? even if they are the only ones for now. She says, "We just want to get back to normal."